Nvidia and Baidu partner on a ‘top-to-bottom’ platform for self-driving cars

Nvidia co-founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang revealed a new partnership on stage at Baidu’s annual Baidu World conference today. This partnership with Baidu will see Nvidia and the Chinese tech giant work together on building a comprehensive autonomous driving platform.

“We’re going to bring together the technical capabilities, our expertise in AI, and the skills of two world-class companies,” Huang said, noting that the partnership will the AI and deep learning skills of both companies. “By combining these capabilities, we will be able to deliver a cloud-to-car architecture platform that promises to get cars on the road in the next several years.”

Nvidia and Baidu will be building an end-to-end solution for self-driving cars, according to Huang. The end goal is a platform that allows Baidu to get a self-driving taxi fleet on the road, and the same platform is also designed for use in OEM cars, tied into the same network. Huang said this means it’s going to be available for branded car OEM consumer vehicle offerings, as well as fleets of driverless commercial vehicles. He noted it will be a “completely open” platform, meaning they’re very hopeful other automotive OEMs will come on board.

Huang also talked about deep learning and AI generally, and Nvidia’s commitment to both across a variety of industries. He noted that beginning six years ago, even “before many people in Silicon Valley,” Baidu and CEO Robin Li and were investing deeply in this area. Nvidia has been partnering with Baidu on computer learning research for years now, Huang said.